“Tyson, you’re going to have to dip into your savings to get this one!” pronounced my friend Kevin as we admired a 1969 Cadillac unlike anything we’d ever seen before. The car was a running and driving jacuzzi. You read that right; the “Carpool Deville” pictured below was one of many automobiles (1,729 in fact) up for grabs at this year’s 47th annual Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. Speedo or bikini not included!

Barrett-Jackson brings automotive enthusiasts (usually, with large pocketbooks) together with rare & collectible vehicles. It’s the perfect combination that attracts thousands of people like me to Scottsdale, Arizona every January to spectate. This year, I attended with my friends Chris and Kevin, who are colleagues from the Acura Legend enthusiast community. Kevin was pretty excited.

See?

Each year, it seems the bar gets raised ever higher: More cars, higher sale prices, and special guest appearances. Little did I know going into Saturday’s auction that I would be in the same room as former U.S. President George W. Bush. But that’s exactly what ended up happening. Joining Mr. Bush on the stage was none other than Jay Leno himself. And the Corvette they were promoting ended up being the auction’s third-highest sale for the week, with the $1.4 million pricetag going to charity.

The energy in the room was off the charts, with people standing up from their chairs, holding up their phones, and clapping / cheering each time the high bid went up another notch. That’s the kind of crowd spirit that makes Barrett-Jackson such a fun annual tradition, even if means paying $16 for a baked potato for lunch. The entertainment is far more than worth it. Check out my video below for a small taste of what the scene was like, including George Bush’s remarks about the Corvette being a “damn good car.”

Perhaps our favorite car in the running this year – since Chris had made us watch it on TV the evening prior – was a 1978 Ferrari 308 customized for the TV series Knight Rider by George Barris. The styling certainly wasn’t for everyone, but the car’s provenance – a word I’m coming to learn is very important in the auto collector community – made it something special. We watched it bring $85,000.

Another cool vehicle that we kicked the tires on was this 1990 Honda NSX, straight from Japan and looking pretty crisp in right-hand-drive configuration. It had 49,000 miles on it and brought a $47,000 pricetag. Notice – all of the cars get the final sales price written on the SOLD tag with a black Sharpie.

Below were the stats for Barrett’s overall results this year, courtesy of my friend Jonathan Klinger who is the Vice President of Public Relations at Hagerty Insurance. Many thanks to him for keeping us in the loop via email on the daily happenings over at the auction block. And thanks, too, to Hagerty’s CEO, McKeel Hagerty, for extending some heartfelt and kind words about the up-and-coming import collector car community when we ran into him right outside the auction area. It was great to get to meet him. Pictured here are McKeel, Chris, Jonathan, and myself.

Final Numbers for Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2018:

Overall Total: $116.7 million

1,721/1,729 lots sold: 99% sell-through rate

Average Sale Price: $65,692

Overall Top 10 Sales (excludes charity cars):

2015 Porsche 918 Spyder – $1,430,000

1952 Ferrari 212 Europa – $1,100,000

1965 Chevrolet Corvette Cutaway Coupe – $1,100,000

1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – $770,000

1966 Shelby GT350 Prototype #001 – $605,000

2015 MTI Racing Boat – $548,900

2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition – $495,000

1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 – $495,000

1958 Chevrolet Corvette Custom Convertible – $440,000

1970 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV Convertible – $440,000

Oh, and that hot tubbing 1969 Cadillac? It sold for a value-priced $24,000, or about 6 times the cost of a traditional hot tub. But for the sake of being able to say that your hot tub had a 472-cubic-inch V8 engine? Priceless!

Thanks to the Barrett-Jackson team for the chance to attend such an awesome event. Here is an 8-minute video that I captured of some of the highlights from my perspective, as well as a few additional photos.

Media Pass. Here we go!

Life-sized Camaro “Hot Wheels” display. Loved this!

Wide-eyed and soaking up the eye candy from the Salon Collection area.

I could go for a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS!

This baked potato weighed more than an infant child.

Ran into a few friends, including Jack & Brad.

… And a buddy Tom from the NSX community.

I love these kinds of production number breakdowns. I will be making something similar for my Legends the next time they’re on display.

Kevin went crazy each time we saw a split-window 1963 Corvette. He needs one.

This 1930 Cord was front-wheel-drive. Not something you saw very often during that era.

Food vendors galore! Chris got a funnel cake.

Love the 1955-57 Chevy Bel Airs.

One of them had some appropriate looking props affixed to the passenger window.

Interior of the 1969 Cadillac hot tub. The description sheet made it clear to mention, in large caps at the bottom, that the car cannot be registered or driven on public roads. Bummer.

On our way out, we saw VIN 001 2019 Ford Mustang “Bullitt” Edition, a 50-year throwback to the original Bullitt that was driven by Steve McQueen. It sold for $300,000.

Hope you enjoyed coming along to the auctions! A few final sidebars today:

Looking for some midday entertainment to keep your mind off those meetings at the office? My buddy Josh who you know from TSX Travels has launched a new channel about his latest toy. The channel is called NSX Experiment.

My friend Cody’s extremely rare and well-kept 1993 Legend L sedan 5-speed hit Bring a Trailer today. Take a peek and watch the action for the next 7 days at auction! Good luck, Cody!

And finally, we have to congratulate my friend Eric in KY who found a good home for his red 1989 coupe a couple of days ago. He’s pictured here at left handing off the keys. Congrats on the sale, Eric! So many deals to be had.

You bet, Cody! Happy to spread the word, and I hope your sedan finds a good home. The auction is off to a really strong start already. It’s fun to read the comments – there is some definite appreciation going on in there. I’ll be watching closely.

Holy cars! So what movie did you preview prior to attending BJ? That Ferrari…. I don’t recognize which show it belongs to. How is that Guest Room on Georgia Avenue? Be sure and make me a reservation for January 2019…

Thanks for the coverage of the auctions, always cool to see what’s getting sold. Your additional details on the dollars and figures were pretty interesting too – I can’t believe that 99% of all cars were sold! That’s awesome! Didn’t realise Josh had launched a new channel for his NSX, the lazy buggar needs to update his blog, haha. Hope your week is going well.

Very cool post, and great coverage of the auction. LOVE the split-window ‘Vette. My uncle has a 65 convertible, but the 63 is one of my dream cars. Don’t remember that Ferrari in Knight Rider- you’ve given me an excuse to go back and watch the show again!!

That NSX didn’t look like it was factory stock- did it have any mods besides the wheels?

I’ll have to ask Chris which specific episode of Knight Rider that Ferrari was in – he brought the complete boxed set and was able to pick it out immediately, haha. As for the red NSX, I believe it to have been stock aside from the wheels.

Too funny – I wonder where that Cadillac spa will end up next. Shame it can’t be registered or driven on public roads. Thanks for reading the blog, as always (even if it’s a little late!). I enjoy sharing my little news updates with the community. Hope you are doing very well, Pam! 🙂